Tipsters indicated an April production schedule for the larger version and a June schedule for production of an update to the 13.3-inch notebook. They said monthly production capacity of the 15-inch MacBook will start out at between 100,000 and 150,000 units and "rise gradually."

Earlier this month, the same publication reported that Apple's new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros had entered production. The new machines are said to lack optical drives while maintaining "more advanced specs" than the MacBook Air.

Sources have separately told AppleInsider that Apple is gearing up to blur the lines between its current MacBook Air models and its pro series of laptops. It's not yet clear, however, whether the company will revise its marketing names for the machines and collapse the two lineups under one name.

An illustration of Apple's notebook lineup planned for the 2012 calendar year.

Reports emerged on Wednesday that Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge chips, some of which are presumably bound for Apple's new Macs, are scheduled to launch at the end of April. Earlier reports have claimed that Apple is aiming to launch the 15-inch MacBook Pro also by the end of next month. Intel has experienced some delays with its Ivy Bridge processors, but it remains to be seen to what extent Apple's schedule will be affected.

Mounting evidence also suggests that Apple is preparing to upgrade its Mac displays to Retina Display quality and could do so as early as the next generation.

If Apple can pull off a generational jump in performance with Ivy Bridge PLUS newer (faster, and hopefully fatter GB) SSD drives AND add a retina res display AND slim the whole package down AND cut the weight AND at least maintain battery life... ...AND ... ...keep the present price point, well then, damn, that's gonna be one fast-moving truck.

(Fast moving as in sweet, sleek and moving quickly off the shelves....)

USB 3.0's built into the chipset, so the USB port upgrades (to remove one nagged-at point) - and tie something like this to that 27" TB monitor, with the monitor's port array hosting mass external storage along with any and every other possible peripheral your heart might desire - via likely one and in no case more than two connections - and that's your new world-leading "Mobdesk" (mobile/desktop) computer system of 2012. Hands down. No competition.

And there most certainly will be a profitable and sizable niche for a pro level (and named) machine of this class. Though it would begin to pull more sales from the iMac line..... ...but the trend to untethered is already well-advanced and Apple's already leading the way.

(Wish list: 1) 811ac and 2) BTO 3/4G option with same or expanded choice of wireless providers that iPad is already supported by.)

(Just remember, the first word in the post is "if"......) (And yes, I know "Mobdesk" is a terrible coinage, but hey, it describes the convergence....)

I doubt there will be a13" Pro and a 13" Air. The 13" is coming later because it is not an MBP, but an Air update. It could also be delayed because it will have a retina display and the iPad is taking up all the supply right now.

If Apple can pull off a generational jump in performance with Ivy Bridge PLUS newer (faster, and hopefully fatter GB) SSD drives AND add a retina res display AND slim the whole package down AND cut the weight AND at least maintain battery life... ...AND ... ...keep the present price point, well then, damn, that's gonna be one fast-moving truck.

If your wish list gets real, I might consider to upgrade my MBP 2008) rather than waiting for an upgrade for the MacPro, for which I haven't seen any rumor yet.

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Originally Posted by bigpics

(Fast moving as in sweet, sleek and moving quickly off the shelves....)(And yes, I know "Mobdesk" is a terrible coinage, but hey, it describes the convergence....)

I doubt there will be a13" Pro and a 13" Air. The 13" is coming later because it is not an MBP, but an Air update. It could also be delayed because it will have a retina display and the iPad is taking up all the supply right now.

But most of the rumored new features of the MBP are Air features, so they would end up selling two very similar notebooks, potentially confusing for the customer. I think they will have one 13" laptop, and use Good, Better, Best and BTO to cater to people's various needs.

Unless of course the current 13" MBP stays the same, and becomes the new basic Macbook, take the role the white polycarbonate had until a few months ago.

If Apple can pull off a generational jump in performance with Ivy Bridge PLUS newer (faster, and hopefully fatter GB) SSD drives AND add a retina res display AND slim the whole package down AND cut the weight AND at least maintain battery life... ...AND ... ...keep the present price point, well then, damn, that's gonna be one fast-moving truck.

Agreed. Ivy Bridge = more power, less power consumption. A jump in screen resolution is a perfect reason to upgrade especially if it is 15". However, I think the real opportunity is to provide large capacity SSDs at the lowest possible price. I would love to see 1 TB SSDs as an option.

There's a lot of chat about hybrid drives with SSD / HDD linked together. To me this is a compromise. Once you've used pure SSD anything else is just lame. Apple has to drive SSD uptake across the market. If that means subsidising SSD prices in the short term, so be it. We need SSDs to kill HDDs just as LED screens killed CRT monitors.

If the new 15" thin and light machine is running at MacBook Pro specs, it'll be interesting to see what they call it. The distinction between Air and Pro seems like it will soon be very fuzzy. I would prefer it if Apple simply called the entire line-up MacBooks with price premiums achieved by offering higher spec models at each screen size.

Judging by the number of Future MacBook Pro threads here, there is considerable pent-up demand for these new machines. Me included.

There's a lot of chat about hybrid drives with SSD / HDD linked together. To me this is a compromise. Once you've used pure SSD anything else is just lame..

My experience with a hybrid hard disk was disappointing. In spite of articles suggesting that it was 90% of the speed of an SSD, I found its performance to be only marginally better than a platter hard disk.

Until SSD prices come down, I would prefer a dual drive system - small (probably 64 GB) SSD for the system and application files and a larger platter drive for all the data files. This would provide performance close to SSDs for a fraction of the cost.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

Apple has to drive SSD uptake across the market. If that means subsidising SSD prices in the short term, so be it. We need SSDs to kill HDDs just as LED screens killed CRT monitors.

Don't worry, Apple has wedded themselves to SSDs. Just look at the new features in Lion: apps all come back up when you restart. And when memory runs low apps in the background are automatically quit, only to be reloaded if you switch to them again.

These features all depend on quick loading. Apple is not just using SSDs to do old things faster, they are starting to build new features that almost depend on you having one.

Agreed. Ivy Bridge = more power, less power consumption. A jump in screen resolution is a perfect reason to upgrade especially if it is 15". However, I think the real opportunity is to provide large capacity SSDs at the lowest possible price. I would love to see 1 TB SSDs as an option.

How on earth is that a realistic opportunity? No one makes those yet! You're looking to pay $900+ for a 600GB internal SSD currently. The only things bigger than that are the pci-e Revo drives that pack it all on a pluggable card instead of in a hard drive case. The 960GB Revo drive is $2500.

High storage SSD is NOT an option currently. More likely would be a 128GB SSD and a large internal HDD for mass storage.

Absolutely. The 'Air' moniker was meant to introduce features that were too expensive for the mass market.

When those features are ready for the masses (which happens this year) the Air will disappear.

That's not at all what 'Air' means. It was introduced as the thinnest and lightest full-featured computer on the market. There's no reason they can't continue that - even as other products get lighter and thinner.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

That's not at all what 'Air' means. It was introduced as the thinnest and lightest full-featured computer on the market. There's no reason they can't continue that - even as other products get lighter and thinner.

True, but the reason the Airs got thin are the same reasons the Pros are about to.

Is there any prospect of making the Airs thinner than they already are? If not, what's the point of keeping two notebook lines serving the same market?

The MBA has a lower power CPU which requires less battery and less cooling. It does not have a traditional hard drive, nor an optical drive. It does not have a discrete CPU.

What makes you think Apple is going to drop all of those things from the MBP line?

It is entirely possible that the Pros will be slightly bulkier than the Airs, due to the continued inclusion of some of the features you mentioned (though I think the hard drive and CD drive are goners.) But then the Air simply becomes a less capable version of the Pro, albeit slightly thinner.

Wouldn't it make sense to distinguish them by the MacBook and MacBook Pro monikers?

It is entirely possible that the Pros will be slightly bulkier than the Airs, due to the continued inclusion of some of the features you mentioned (though I think the hard drive and CD drive are goners.)

2.5" HD bays in 15" and 17" models for additional storage options would not be a bad idea.

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But then the Air simply becomes a less capable version of the Pro, albeit slightly thinner.

Wouldn't it make sense to distinguish them by the MacBook and MacBook Pro monikers?

They are going to drop it sooner or later. If they choose not to drop it this time around, they will most certainly drop it in 2013. Many people didn't want them to kill the white unibody MacBook and they did anyway.

Apple's philosophy generally is that they know what the public wants better than they know themselves. They have their finger on the pulse and thus far have been highly successful.

I said more likely than high capacity SSD for the whole line and it is way more likely than 1TB SSD I don't think the Pro line can go to 128GB SSD and that's it.

Not a chance. They would absolutely not limit it to 128 GB. You can pretty safely ignore everything that "I'm a zzz" says.

I think the most likely scenario is that they will continue what they're doing now - platter drive as standard with various sizes of SSD and hard drives optional. I would prefer a small (64 GB) SSD and larger hard disk, but don't really expect to see that.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13